DC: 2011-10-09 - Museum of Unnatural History
It's one of those days in the city of Metropolis where 'something a bit weird is gonna happen'. For a city that has suffered some of the more ridiculous events in modern time, there's a new one for the books. The Metropolis Museum of Natural History is showcasing a new exhibit on Animatronic Dinosaurs, and the press is taking pictures of them. The director of the museum is talking over the new exhibit, cameras are running, and people in nice suits are 'oohing' and 'ahhing' over the latest exhibition as a large number of children are looking at the giant displays with glee that only a child can possibly indulge such in. Clark Kent is on the job, in one of many in the latest spree of disappointing assignments since his performance had slacked while Superman was away saving the galaxy. Animatronic dinosaurs just were not his idea of great copy. However, that was his assignment and he'd be sure to do his best. Clark nudges his way forward and addresses the director. "Excuse me, Director? What does the Museum hope to achieve with these animatronic dinosaurs?" Kara Zor-El heads into the coffee shop, just outside the Metropolis museum. Again, she's in civilian clothes, but not in her glasses, and her hair's still like it is as Supergirl - a sign of how she really dislikes the whole secret identity thing. Surprisingly, people don't instantly recognize her. She goes here a lot because she found that chamomile tea tasts a lot like a bitter fruit drink she used to have on Krypton, when heated up. She peers at the museum, hearing her cousin's voice. Some x-ray vision and her eyes raise. She smiles and gets up, then realizes... not in her secret identity. "Hrm." she says to herself, contemplating making a quick change. Animatronic dinosaurs. Zinda watches them with distinct amusement crossing her face. The technology might be fascinating, but really, animatronic dinosaurs are just too...silly...for anyone over the age of thirteen. Why is she here? Sheer curiosity. With a side of boredom. Although she feels sorry for the reporter. He doesn't look like he's having too much fun. At this point, the museum director turns to Clark and hapily explains, "We wish to recreate them in a fashion as close as we could to the historical reality of the era they were in. As such, the use of animatronics to make them come alive makes them more interactive for the children, and we enjoy making things come alive for them to help teach teh next generation of what came before." At this point, the children run over and begin to look over the various dinosaurs on display as they move and shfit like something out of Jurassic Park done in DIsneyworld. Clark Kent nods, making mental notes as the director elaborates on the Museum's intentions with the robot dinosaurs. "With those intentions, what are the capabilities of these machine?" He lifts a camera, snapping a photo of the display with children in various poses of excitement before turning back to the Director. He briefly searches distant noises for sounds of distress but finding none, returns to the monotonous details of his assignment. Kara Zor-El ducks into an alley, makes a quick flight back to San Francisco then back to get her glasses and do up her hair, then back to the alley. In walked Kara Zor-El, out walks Kara Kent. She jogs across the street to the museum to see what her cousin is up to. Zinda Blake shakes her head. "Animatronic dinosaurs. Crazy." She's starting to head towards the door. This wasn't nearly as interesting as the pilot thought it might be. Nope. Not at all. At this point, the Director explains to Clark, "Well, they have a quite complete range of motion and prerecorded sounds in them based upon what we think dinosaurs sounded like back then based upon examinations of their vocal cords. So they have a repeated range of motions that they do in their exhibit which we can alter with further programming should we alter facets of the exhibition." Smiling, "But in general they just repeat the same pattern over and over, such as walking around and letting out noises." At this point, the lead exhibition, a large Tyrannosaurus Rex lets out an ear splitting roar as the man blinks, "That's odd, we didn't record such a thing, it's unrealistic within the vocal range.." Right as the dinosaur leaps out of it's confines and begins to breathe fire over the heads of the children, who are dancing and waving with glee. DAMMIT, it looks like Zinda has provoked fate once again! This will all be laid at her feet, sure. Kara Zor-El tries to think of how to sneak up on her cousin to surprise him. She tries a little trick Batman once suggested to her, given Kryptonian flight abilities. She could try to walk over quietly, her feet imperceptably off the floor to prevent any sounds of footfalls. Probably will hear her heartbeat though, but he seems preoccupied. She looks over. Is that Zinda? Hrm, okay... she doesnt know her in her secret identity, but she's met her a few times as Supergirl. As she starts to take a step forward to try her sneaky walk... robotic dinosaur attack! Eyebrows raised. She quickly walks back down a halway, shoves the glasses in her pocket, undoes her hair from that stupid bun, and flies out to get in the way of the children and the fire. Clark Kent grabs his ears, stifling his expression of pain as the dinosaur lets out its deafening roar. Clark had not been muffling his immediate area when the dinosaur 'malfunctioned'. The fire almost catches him offguard in his slightly disoriented state, but manages to push some children out of the way as flames scorch across his back. "RUN, kids!", he shouts as he notices his cousin fly in to assist. "I'm going to try to find the main breaker for this thing!" Clark runs past any security who are more busy ensuring the safety of the museum's guests. As soon as he is out of sight, Clark darts into a corner unmonitored by cameras. .oO( Looks like a job for... ) In a blink of an eye, mild-manner Clark Kent is replaced by... the Man of Steel, known to Metropolis as SUPERMAN! Zinda Blake doesn't exactly have quick change capability. Or superpowers. Which means...the best she she can do is try to hustle those kids out the door while Superman deals with the rampaging dinobots. She's pretty sure he can handle them. He's good at what he does, after all. The children seem more disappointed that they're being told to leave the suddenly charging robotic dinosaurs which are breathing fire, but they're herded out by world weary parents for whom giant fire breathing robots are an 'any day of the week' event as the lobby is quickly cleared to leave over to the heroes as the alarm rings. The Giant Tyrannosaurus Rex charges over towards Supergirl, breathing fire over at her as a pair of robotic Triceratops charge over towards Superman, each of their tri-horns glowing up as they tried to accurately target him to launch a blistering barrage of laser beams over at him! As Zinda herds the children out of the place, she would see a monitor over on the ground, showcasing the face over of an older man upon it wearing a set fo glasses, blathering out, "Stop, I can't see what's going on!! My mechanical minions shall impose their monstrous devastation here and this city until all bow down before their power!" Unfortunately, it's about the size of an old game boy screen and it's not broadcasting very loud, so no one can actually pick UP Toyman over on it that wouldn't have Super-Hearing, or unlike Zinda be a few feet away from it. Clark Kent meant to pose seeing you... but got busy with the fire. Kara Zor-El says, "oh ok" Kara Zor-El gets doused by the flames, then flies right through them to give the T-Rex a crack across its face with her fist. "Um... Hi Kal? Mechanical dinosaurs. This is new." she calls over, looking over at where her cousin is. Zinda Blake is still trying to hustle the children out. The problem is...they want to watch *SUPERMAN*. "Kids...let the man do his job. It's a lot easier with you out of the way." A dog-sized dinosaur lunges at her and she swats it aside as best she can. "Grah." Superman's eyes light up with red energy just milliseconds before he quickly reconsiders the possible property damage and subsequent disappointment of the children. He inhales as quickly as he can, dodging to the side of the lasers that fired off during his brief moment of indecision. He exhales and arctic blast, covering the robotic triceratop in a thick layer of ice before turning to stop a charging Pachycephalosaurus by grappling it with his bare hands. "Hey... cousin... Yes.. Robots seem to be... a recurring... theme... but attacking CHILDREN??" He wrestles the robot to the ground, hoping the animatronics weren't designed to let them get back up. Superman is able to deep freeze a group of triceratops, and the children being herded out of the room let out a cheer and begin talking animatedly about how cool this is as the retreating director of the exhibition along with the children goes out, sighs and releases an 'Oh, Bother' sort of bit over. Meanwhile, Kara is able to put the kaput over on the T-Rex as her punch sends it flying then, the children letting out a whoot as she protected them, being filed out fo the museum by their teachers who look up at the maid of steel thankfully at her rescue as she's then dive bombed by a pair of Pteradons! The children she was protecting retreat outside as a pair of flying, rocket powered dino-jets attempt to fly over at her and bat at her with mechanical wings! And the children with Zinda want to watch Superman, even as she shoos them out of the way as a trio of miniaturized Dilophosaurus run at her, breathing small bursts of flame as they rush towards Zinda! And as the Triceratops are frozen and Superman faces the Pachycephalosaurus and stops it with his hands, it's breath of fire hitting to nothing over him as the children are finally herded out the rest of the way, what next is seen on it's face is a small monitor showing TOYMAN upon the head, "Now SUPERMAN, shall you bow before my mechanical minions or shall I have to level this building?" Starfire says, "Basically they're the flying Dinosaurs from Jurassic Park, they're trying to ram you in midair, and flying on rockets as opposed to their wings." Kara Zor-El looks back at her cousin as she does some aerial maneuvers as the pteradons dive at her, swooping over one and sending her fist into its head, while her eyes glow red and fire twin beams of concentrated heat across the wings of the second one, cutting through it like a hot knife through butter. When it hits the jet pack, there's an explosion. "Kal, I'm pretty sure robots don't care about age." She swings the one she's on into the second one that she heat visioned. She adds, "Um.... friend of yours?" she asks Superman about the Toyman face on the screen. Superman keeps his eyes focused on his current nemesis. "That may be... but I dodn't think the Museum intended for these..." He freezes the Pachycephalosaurus from the neck down with a quick breath of frozen air. "...animatronic dinosaurs to be FIRE-breathing." As Toyman taunts from his tiny screen, his eyes narrow. "Toyman!! Neither!" He scans the air, his eyes shifting through the various spectrums to locate what he assumes to the radiowaves that are commanding the machines, trying to trace it to its source. Superman adds, "If by friend, you mean enemy... then, yes. Definitely." Zinda Blake acks as the *fire breathing* dinosaurs come right at her. This is no time to worry about Not Having Everyone Know She Can Fight. She dives to the side, aiming a flying high kick at the nearest as soon as she's out of the line of fire. Grah. She enjoys a good fight but, really, robot dinosaurs? In fairness to Zinda, if they were NAZI Dinosaurs they would probably be right up her alley, as her spin kick slams up and knocks the first one down, it's next shot of fire going off-target as it's head snapped back and then shot to the dinosaur behind it, which exploded, and then took the third with ti in a spectacular series of explosions right as a few photgraphers took photos of her -right- at that moment, her move seeming like a preplanned thing to take out all three robots in one swoop as the children let out a defeaning roar of "COOL!!" to dwarf that even which Superman had gotten! Kal-El is rapidly able to trace the satellite uplink and with his super-senses is able to track it.. To a waiting television truck outside, which was probably parked there as part of the festivities of the press tracking everything. Meanwhile, Kara is able to take out the remaining flying dinosaurs as they exploded, leaving nothing more in the building that was moving or an immediate threat to face the trio! Starfire says, "the truck Superman is tracking the broadcast to is parked out fron the museum." Zinda Blake was hustling the kids outside, kicking at dinosaurs on the way ;) Starfire says, "And getting an awesome upskirt flying kick photo that's gonna be front page taken. ;)" Superman narrows his eyes at the parked vehicle, scanning it with his penetration vision. Noticing a figure from within, Superman says, "Kara... I want to introduce you to someone. Follow me." He then zooms past Zinda and the crowds at subsonic speed, his eyes searing any visible vehicle doors closed as he approaches the truck. Zinda Blake watches Superman buzz past. She...waves to him. He's clearly not stopping...and she's not sure she can keep up. Oh wait. Is that a truck? Kara Zor-El flies over to Superman. "Um..." she says as he flies past Zinda. She flies past also, sort of wanting to say hi to her very foul-mouthed, butt-kicking friend, but... she flies after Superman. "Yeah okay Kal?" Over in the truck, as Zinda would see, inside as Superman zooms up to it.. To his and Kara's X-Ray Vision is a small man, somewhat balding, seemingly elderly and a bit rotund wearing a tweed jacket working over at a control panel within the truck, his eyes widening as on a monitor the two Kryptonians were zooming up towards him! Superman opens the side door, and snatches the balding old man by he collar, pulling him from the truck. Lifting him up in front of Supergirl, he comments, "Toyman? Supergirl. Supergirl?" He narrows his eyes at the small villain. "Waste of our time." He blasts the control panel his laser eyes. "You endangered CHILDREN, Toyman." He pulls him closer. "/CHILDREN/." This is possibly the angriest Kara has seen her cousin express himself. Starfire Breaks pose order slightly. :) At this point, Superman is enraged at his long term adversary endangering innocents, and innocent children come to take the delight of learning! HE is slightly defeaned and disoriented, and not paying as strict attention as he should. At this point, as Toyman is grabbed up, he is revealed to be.. But a toy. Another robot as the head falls off, cackling, "I'll get you next time, next time, next time.." Within the toy, Supergirl would sense a powerful compact explosive, sufficient to detonate the area, and even as the head fell off the robot, the signal being sent over for it to detonate! Kara Zor-El pauses. "Um.. Kal?" she says as he rips off the door. "Kal?" she repeats as he grabs Toyman. She then flies at the van and lifts it up. "Let go of it, Kal!" she says when the head comes off. She flies up a bit to throw the van into the air. Superman drops the body as the head falls off and Kara shouts at him. He watches as his cousin hurls the vehicle into the sky. Realizing his adversary was not where he assume, Superman, angrer at himself, begins searching frantically with his various vision modes and encumbered sense of hearing for the true Toyman. The vehicle shoots up and over into the sky as it explodes with a massive barrage high up in the atmosphere as if it was fireworks! The rescued children going outside, thinking that this has all been a totally awesome show, let out a tremendous CHEER as if that would make right all that had happened this tumultuous afternoon. Of Toyman, there is no sign of in the immediate area. But everyone is safe, there were no significant damages to the museum or property, and the kids seemed to have had a great time despite the danger. Kara Zor-El looks at her cousin. "One of these days I'd like to know why so many bald people hate you so much." Superman says, "They're jealous of my curls." Zinda Blake sighs a bit as she approaches the explosion. "So, I take it you guys know that guy?" In the bad sense of know. She's annoyed...first bored, then fighting dinosaurs. Where's the booze? Superman watches the detonation and his cousin's safety as he had expected. Furrowing his eyebrows, Superman looks down and grabs the lifeless robotic body of Toyman. He stares at it and crushes it within his grip, angered that his emotions allowed himself to ignore important clues that could have cost the life of innocents. Looking up and seeing Zinda, he nods and with a pained face, humbling says, "Thank you for your help, ma'am." Kara Zor-El pauses and waves a little at Zinda. "Hi Zinda." she says, floating there beside her cousin. Apparently she knows this person. Superman looks up at his cousin, forcing a smile, proud of her development as a heroine. Only with the enhanced vision of a Kryptonian would one notice his eyes misting at his own disappointment. "Proud..." His voice breaks. "Proud of you, Kara Zor-El." He looks back to the crowds around him. "I'm... I'm sorry." With that, he shoots to the sky. Kara Zor-El looks over at Zinda as Superman flies off. "He's usually less emotional. He's just proud of me I guess." she says embarrassed. "It's my first robot dinosaur fight."